Murray Feingold

NASGA Member

I am old enough to retire. I have been a Postal worker for over forty years. I hold a full time position earning approximately $50,000 a year, in addition to working extensive overtime.

I was happy for all those years until I was introduced to the judicial system in 2000. The landlord of the building I had been living in for the prior ten years refused to make what I considered necessary repairs, so I resorted to self help and withheld a portion of the rent. The apartment that I was living in was rent controlled, so it is easy to understand why the landlord decided to start eviction proceedings.

Instead of eviction, I was placed under guardianship by Hon. Anthony Cutrona, Justice of the Supreme Court in Kings County, Brooklyn, NY in March of 2001 in order to “protect” me.

This is when my life turned into a nightmare. When a guardian is appointed for a person, all their civil rights are lost. I could no longer control my own money. The court ordered that all of my salary, including all overtime pay, must be sent to the guardian, a company ironically called Self Help Community Services, Inc. Each week, the guardian returns a total of $325 which my wife and I are expected to live on.

I am in dire need of dental work, but when the bill became five hundred dollars, the guardian would no longer pay it.

My hearing loss is having a negative effect at my job (I am totally deaf in one ear and partially deaf in the other), but when I ordered hearing aids, the guardian cancelled my personal check. My co-workers find it annoying because they have to constantly repeat instructions because I can’t hear them when they speak. Sometimes people mistake my loudness for aggressiveness.

I have made my problem known to many agencies in New York, have contacted and emailed the first lady, Oprah Winfrey, etc. and has been told that they can not help me.